


"Take My Jacket, It's Cold Outside."

by impulse_baker



Series: 100 Ways to Say 'I Love You' [12]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Healing, Boys In Love, Castiel is a Sweetheart, Dean is a Sweetheart, Fluff, M/M, SO SO SO IN LOVE, Sick Dean Winchester, Stubborn Dean, no one has ever been in love as them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-03-03 19:11:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13347663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/impulse_baker/pseuds/impulse_baker
Summary: Dean is miserably sick, but he still has work to do to finish up the vegetable garden he promised Castiel. Compromised immune system be damned, he is going to keep his promise to his angel.But all Cas wants to do is watch TV under blankets.





	"Take My Jacket, It's Cold Outside."

Being stubborn was practically a Winchester trademark. It wasn’t that they were rigid or unadaptable, because that wasn’t conducive to being a successful hunter. The soil was making it hard to dig up the grave? It would be better to wait until the next night after it rained and moistened the ground? That didn’t matter. They would dig and dig until they got the job done. If they had something that needed to be done, they did it, unwavering from the path they set for themselves.

It was a trait that was sometimes admirable, but sometimes it rode the line on being down right stupid. They never got into anything they weren’t able to get out of, but they got pretty close a few times.

Really. a runny nose and tight throat shouldn’t be any great obstacle for a guy who has stopped his fair share of apocalypses. Yet here Dean was, struggling to muster up the strength to get out of bed. His head was throbbing and despite his mouth and throat feeling parched, there was a lot of moisture running down his face.

He needed to get up and finish planting the rest of the garden that he promised as Castiel’s Christmas gift. Apparently there were a few vegetables that could be planted in the winter, so he and his angel had been preparing the soil and digging the beds and filling compost for the last couple of days. It was a lot more fun that he expected, but a lot of that probably had to do with the fact that Cas could probably read to Dean from a phone book and make it mystifying.

He had onion and garlic bulbs, potato tubers, pea sprouts, different kinds of lettuce seeds, and to Dean’s disgust, radish seeds. He wasn’t going to tell anyone, but he was trying to commit to eating healthier. He wanted to be a good example to Jack, and he wanted to be healthier so that he could have as much time with Cas as possible. What were a few decades to an immortal angel, anyway? He wasn’t going to deprive himself or anyone of a good slice of pie or a well deserved plate of chili fries, but he would sneak in as many vegetables into his diet as were humanly edible.

No one had to know. Especially not Sam.

He planned on expanding the garden to including flowers and fruits and other vegetables so that maybe Cas could keep some bees, too. He didn’t think he needed to bring that all up just yet. He definitely didn’t need to share his schematics or the journal full of research he had done. His devotion to Cas’ happiness could be his little secret.

His devotion was currently the only thing that was giving him the will to get up. He shuffled through his morning routine. Coffee. Shower. Dress.

He worried that Castiel would make him stay inside today, because he was clearly suffering from a cold or something. He really wanted to get this done today. So, he avoided finding Cas and went outside on his own.

The weather was luckily clear, though the sky was grey with the promise of snow. He pulled his leather jacket around himself tightly and set to work.

“Dean?”

_I’ve been caught._

“Yeah what’s up, Cas?” It was the first time he tried using his voice and he winced at the shallow rasp of it.

Castiel cocked his eyebrow and approached him. With his finger.

“I need to take your temperature.”

Dean swatted his hand away with a hollow laugh that hurt his chest. “No I’m good. Just wanted to finish up and surprise you.”

“You are in no condition to be doing labor in the cold. You aren’t even wearing sufficient protection.”

“I have my angel blade.” Cracking a joke at Cas’ expense clearly wasn’t the right way to go. The angel didn’t look amused.

“Will you never let that go?”

“It was pretty fucking funny.”

“Come on. We are going inside. I will make some soup for you and you will rest.”

Castiel tugged on his arm, pulling him back towards the Bunker, but Dean held his ground.

“I’m well enough to – ” he was interrupted by a fit of phlegmy coughing. It made the back of his throat sting, the roof of his mouth itch, and his stomach hurt. And it felt disgusting.

“Dean. I have the strength to level the entirety of the state of Kansas with a flick of my wrist. Picking you up and carrying you inside requires none of my strength at all. Either come willingly, or I will throw you over my shoulder.” His eyes were challenging as if he were arguing with a large, 38 year old child.

“Come on, man. Look, if we get Jack and Sam to help we can get this all finished up today.”

“It is not necessary that we complete this project today, Dean.”

“Yes it is!” He grumbled and he was fully aware of his petulance now. He just didn’t care. Cas was getting in the way of him keeping his promise of having everything planted by today.

If he couldn’t even keep this one little promise. How was he going to keep his other promises to Cas? Why did something always happen? Why couldn’t he just do something good?

Dean could tell the moment the storm in Cas’ eyes subsided. His angel sighed and put one large hand against the side of Dean’s neck, and the other placed firmly in the middle of his chest. Something warm and electric flushed through him and when his eyes fluttered again, his aches and pains disappeared.

“Why didn’t you just heal me to begin with, Nurse Joy?” He smiled and brushed his index knuckle against Cas’ cheek playfully.

“Maybe I wanted to have a chance to take care of you. With soup. And blankets and Netflix. The human way. Because I have my Grace now, but what if I lose it again? I want to know how to be useful, Dean.”

_We are both a couple of jack asses._

“Hey. None, of that, ok?” There was a lot more Dean had to say. He wanted to tell him that he loved him regardless of what he could do for them. He needed him to know that he didn’t keep him around to be useful. He needed him because he was _Cas._ “Let’s just finish getting this shit in the ground and then we can make that soup together and find something on Netflix? What do you say?” He pushed a loose dark curl out of Cas’ forehead and smiled.

“Yes. That does sound nice.” The way he bumped his head against Dean’s fingers made him half expect to hear him purring.

He surprised him again by shrugging out of his trench coat and draping it over Dean’s shoulders.

“Take my jacket, it’s cold outside.”

Dean huffed but eagerly pushed his arms through. He was being enveloped in what smelled like _Cas_ and he even let his angel fumble his way through buttoning the front.

“I don’t want you catching another cold. You promised me soup and Netflix, after all.”

Dean looked forward to it.

**Author's Note:**

> WHY DON'T THEY JUST ADMIT THEY'RE IN LOVE?? WHY? WWHHHYYYYY???
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think! Come say hi on [Tumblr](http://compulsive-baker.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Previous work: "You Can Have Half."  
> Next work: "Sorry I'm Late."


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